Neighbour
by Hakumei
Summary: Duo explains how his best childhood friend's relationship developped from friendship to more. One-shot, 1+2+1


Title: Neighbours   
  
Author: Hakumei  
  
Disclaimers: The Gundam boys don't belong to me, they never will. I'm a poor college kid so don't sue. You won't get much out of me save for maybe a few pennies. However, the plot does belong to me, I'm just borrowing the characters.   
  
Pairings: 1+2+1  
  
Warnings: Shounen ai, mild sap and fluff, possible language (ooo boy!), AU, Duo's POV, First person POV, and the possibility of OOC characters.  
  
Archived: On my website and others mentioned in my bio. Also, if you want to archive it, drop me a line and ask please ^_^  
  
Dedication: To Kaylbunny who needs a pick-me-up.  
  
(...)'s are used as asides - kind of like distractions from the actual story where Duo goes off on a tangent.  
  
On to the story!!!!  
  
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When I first met Heero Kenji Yuy, I was two years old. It wasn't a spectacular encounter; I was the new kid moving next-door in a sparsely populated neighbour hood that was in its developing stages in a quiet city in Ontario, Canada. My parents were born American and had lived in the US up until the point of this year when my father, who is a doctor, was given a better position in this small sleepy city that he couldn't refuse. He and my mother packed up from our little Texan home and left their family behind to move here. Had I been older and understood more, I might have been annoyed but I hadn't formed any definite friendships yet, I was only two years old and I figured it was just a long trip away from Nan and Pappy - my grandparents. As my parents drove up the driveway of our new two-story house, I remember looking out the window and seeing a little boy about my age, playing in his parents' flowerbed with toys. A stern looking Japanese man came out of the house and gave the boy a word of warning "not to ruin his mother's flowers - she would be sad if her little soldier would hurt the plants." The boy, who had wavy dark brown hair and slanted prussian blue eyes that bordered on navy, looked up at his father with teary eyes and said sorry, not paying attention to us as we got out of the car. Dad picked me up out of my car seat as he held me in his arms, smiling brightly. "Duo, welcome to your new home. Looks like you might make a friend," my father said as he nodded to the Japanese man next door and smiled at his son. The little Japanese boy gave me a ghost of a grin as his father put a hand on one of his little bony shoulders and nodded in return to my father and smiled - a perfect mimic of his son's - to my mother, who waved a hesitant hello in return. It was then in my two-year old mind, that I knew I'd make a new friend.  
  
It was two days after my family had comfortably moved into our new home and mom finding a job as a teacher at one of the local elementary schools that I had a chance to meet my neighbour, Heero. Heero was outside playing in his front yard playing with toy soldiers as a blonde woman with curly hair - his mother I assumed, knelt in front of the same flowerbed the little boy had been playing in a couple of days earlier when I first saw him. He was being your typical little boy, playing with his plastic soldiers, making explosion noises as he knelt on the lawn; grass stains already marking their claim on his jean overalls. I slowly walked over to him, my mom who had been outside with me, already went to introduce herself to Heero's mom - Mrs. Annabelle Sophia Yuy, or Annie as she had us all call her. My hair was short at the time, cut in the usual boyish fashion similar to that of Heero's but less messy - my hair was straight, not wavy with the occasional curl here and there like Heero's that I had come to love, as I got older. I hesitantly walked over towards my mom, clasping her hand in mine as I half-hid behind her, shy. It was then Heero noticed me, looking up at me with his exotic slanted blue eyes (which he was always sensitive about), and gave me a shy smile, a cute little dimple forming on his left cheek as he smiled at me. I felt my mom give me a little shove in his direction as I stumbled forward. The only thing that came out of my sensible two-and-a-half-year old mind as I reached Heero was "hi." Heero said hi back introducing himself as Hiroyoshi Kenji Yuy, or Heero for short. (He later spelled the short version of his name with two ee's to make his name more original instead of just 'Hiro'). I smiled brightly, my odd coloured eyes - indigo (I blame my mother, she's of gypsy descent and that side of the family has a history of strange coloured eyes), lighting up as I introduced myself as Doyle Aiden Maxwell. Duo for short, since that's all I could really say for my name as a kid and it kind of stuck as a nickname since then. Heero then gave me one of his plastic toy soldiers and it was then our friendship started to develop, from that point on; we were inseparable to the point you needed to separate us with a crowbar.  
  
I often visited Heero and he often did the same. We were usually playing in my backyard where my dad had assembled one of those Little Tykes castle play set things that had a slide and underground little hiding spot. This is where Heero and I would often be found playing with cars, transformers, or his little plastic toy soldiers that he valued with his life. We went to the same preschool, elementary school, high school, and now, we're going to the same college, both of us taking different majors of course. He's majoring in Science and I'm getting my Bachelor of Arts in English and History. We grew up together, went on double dates together, we stayed up for hours into the morning during summer vacation in a tent, talking and telling ghost stories. We even fooled around together as we 'experimented' together as teenagers, sometimes jacking each other off when we slept over at each other's houses. We even kissed a few of times, stating we were just practicing for our girlfriends, but to me, it was always more than just experimenting. Sure we were both just fifteen and besides any guy would get turned on by someone jacking him off or sucking him off no matter what gender they were...we're a horny lot after all. Not that we screw everything and anything, but we're still horny. And I knew things had changed between us whether he knew it or not. I remember defending him in grade five when some stupid kid kept calling him a 'chink,' a derogative name for a Chinese person, which Heero was of course not, but the boy was an idiot and he probably thought everyone who looked remotely Asian was Chinese. These torments of course made Heero extremely sensitive and self-conscious about his Japanese heritage and eyes, never mind the fact the kid was getting it wrong, and I found his eyes beautiful despite them being blue. I never did ask why his eyes were blue; I think it's because of his mom. She has the same blue eyes as he does and gives the same intense look when disciplining us. Annie always considered me a second son, as did Heero's father, Tatsuya or Mr. T as I ended up nicknaming despite Mr. Yuy's obvious discomfort to the name. Heero's dad even taught me Japanese along with Heero, I knew it almost as well as Heero did, save he had a bit more practice because every second summer he and his family would visit Heero's father's side of the family in Japan for a month. We often spoke Japanese to one another - our secret language that nobody else in our school understood, which made it all the more special.  
  
Contrary to popular belief Heero is not a block of stone and mute as some kids called him in high school, even going so far as nick naming him Vanilla Ice (Why, I have yet to know. I think it's because he seldom talked to anyone but me and a few of our close friends). Little do they know that Heero's very shy and a quiet sensitive, kind-hearted person, not a block of ice. When he was 7 he gave all of his money and my money that we were going to use to buy ice cream to some kids who were going around asking for people to donate to Unicef. It was a mere four bucks but he insisted that other sick kids needed it more than us and that we could go home and his mom would give us some cookies instead. She often baked cookies for us. She was a stay at home mom who actually wrote Romance novels, the ones that you see at book stores and think 'who the hell buys this crap?'. Apparently Mrs. Yuy was really good at it because my mom read those books and would often gush over how well Mrs. Yuy wrote her characters.   
  
I sometimes wonder how Mrs. Yuy and Mr. Yuy ended up marrying each other because they're exact polar opposites. Mr. Yuy is a focused businessman and operates his own successful computer company while Mrs. Yuy is a romanticist and isn't exactly the type of person you would think Mr. Yuy would marry. My mom, who by the way is best friends with Mrs. Yuy, said they met on a cruise. Mr. Yuy's former boss (before he opened his own business), insisted he go on holidays and even sent him on paid vacation on a cruise since Mr. Yuy seemed to never take a day off. And Mrs. Yuy - her maiden name was Smith, won a vacation on the same cruise from some radio draw and they met on the ship hitting it off well. My mom gushes how it was love at first site. I gag at the mere thought of it. Remembering how they joke about my father, Solo Maxwell, who was actually going to be a priest until he met my mom in university, everybody used to call him Father Maxwell, and my Nan and Pappy still do to this day. My uncle told me he strayed away from the word of God because of temptations of the flesh. I think that is pure and utter bullshit. It's obvious my dad loves mom, even if he is a devout Catholic. They both are, but not to the point they shove the Bible down my throat. On the contrary, they're very open-minded and when at sixteen I told them I was pagan, they accepted it so long as I didn't condemn Christians. I would never dream of such a thing. I even went to Mass with them on Easter and Christmas, knowing how important it was to them. Until I was fifteen, I was even an alter boy. Heero joked about that because he's Buddhist and thought it was weird how I would dress up in a white robe (or dress as he would like to call it and joke about), and serve God like a good little boy - which I was in fact not. Remember how I said Heero and I often fooled around in our teen years, it was about then we started. He KNEW I was far from innocent because I would download porno from the internet, that is until my mom found out and nearly had a heart attack from it. She then banned me from the internet for a good solid six months, stating that good fifteen-year-old boys did not do that.  
  
How wrong she was.  
  
My mom was innocent in many ways and naive towards the evils of the internet. But that's beside the point. At sixteen I confessed to both my parents about my sexuality - I was gay. My father was a little bit shocked because I had girlfriends but mom wasn't really surprised. She said when I started growing my hair long when I was seven she suspected it on her 'gaydar' as she called it to lighten the mood. My mom always has a way of understanding me better than I sometimes did. I wasn't surprised that she suspected it; after all, she was my mom. My parents said they would support my choice, even when I still dated girls, which of course never lasted long. I didn't want people to suspect me of my sexuality, even if I did fool around with Heero. Heero had this girlfriend named Relena. A real Barbie clone if you ask me and Heero was definitely no Ken doll. Relena did not deserve Heero in the slightest, but that's also because I'm slightly biased. Relena kept dragging Heero off to these stupid operas in Ottawa and Montreal, and even went on a weekend trip with him to Toronto to visit the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Heero was reluctant to go. So was I. I knew Heero had a particular interest in classical music and opera. He even sang some of the songs to me when we were alone. He's got an awesome voice. He met Relena at some band camp thing he went on for two weeks in the US. He really didn't like her and I don't know why he never told her, I think it's because it was his first real girlfriend and he didn't want to hurt her. I had many girlfriends, even if I was gay. I couldn't afford getting beaten up like that Wufei kid.   
  
He was from China and came into our class in grade eight, just before we graduated and moved on to high school. The boy could barely speak a word of English then, but you talk to him now and you wouldn't know the difference. Wufei's been a good friend of mine since we were thirteen and in which I always befriended the underdogs. That's how Quatre and Trowa became friends of mine in high school. They were all gay, and knew that I was. The only one who didn't was Heero. I met Wufei under dire circumstances at the park when I had gone on one of my walks. He was new to my class and I really didn't talk to him much except for the odd time when we were paired up for projects and such. He was a quiet kid and didn't talk much because of his lack of English and awkwardness. I was walking home from the park when I heard someone shouting and calling people names - a fight in other words. As I approached the quarrel, I noticed little Wufei was getting his poor ass kicked by some of the kids in our class, one who was named Mikey and in fact the same loser who kept calling Heero 'chink.' He kept calling Wufei a fag and fudge packer. I knew they weren't very nice names. And as I scared the kids away, I had a habit of fighting dirty, which involved biting, kicking and breaking any available bones possible, in his case he only managed to get several bites and a broken finger as I defended Wufei, (remember, I had a thing for the underdogs). I helped him up and brought him home, promising to patch him up, suggesting that he also call the police and press charges on those kids. It was then Wufei told me he was gay. The boys were beating Wufei up because he was dating a guy in high school who was a few years older than us and was named Treize. Mikey had caught Treize giving Wufei a kiss good bye after a date and once Treize had left, ganged up on little Wufei as he was walking home (Wufei was never very big and petite by our standards, but damn did the kid have a temper!). I promised to keep it a secret and befriended him.  
  
I think Wufei was glad to finally make a friend.  
  
Heero never questioned the people I met and knew I was a social butterfly of sorts and seemed to befriend anyone, even the lesbian goth chick, Dorothy who was a grade above us. She was actually very nice, just misunderstood because of her preference and style of choice. Heero and I often went on double dates, which I mentioned earlier. I even had gone steady with a girl more than six months, a big thing for a sixteen year old. I even lost my virginity to her. Her name was Hilde. But I had the most awkward conversation with her. After we had sex, she asked if I was gay. I knew I was, but remember, I was being hush-hush about it. I must have given her a funny face because she laughed. It was not a question I was expecting after just sleeping with a girl. I did admit that I was to her then, I couldn't lie anymore. I even told her about my 'adventures' with Heero. She actually took her boyfriend being gay better than I had thought because she ended up being my best girl friend, or 'fag hag' as she insisted on calling it. When I couldn't hang out with Heero, which was far and few between, I'd often hang out with Hilde, and we'd go 'guy scoping' which always made me feel better because I could be myself and not lie about who I was. Heero was a great guy, always there for me when I needed a shoulder to lean on or cry on, hey even guys cry, just not often. He never once questioned my sexuality, he'd better not! But then again, he never did bring up our sexual encounters, even if we still continued to do it even at eighteen. I think it was just a means of sexual relief for him but with him I can never be sure. He's too quiet! He didn't know I was gay, he still doesn't know right now, but I will tell him. He needs to know where we stand and I have to tell him, even if he's not interested in me that way, I'd still want to be his friend if he'd allow me. He's an awesome friend. I can think of a few times where he's rescued me from a bind.  
  
Like the time we were drunk (well drunk being the understatement and me being the drunk, Heero never really drank much beyond a glass of something or two, he tended to prefer the coolers more than anything). I ended up replanting this woman's flowers into something that is not appropriate for kiddies to be informed about nor see and then took her lawn gnomes and placed them in a sexual position, as well as barfing all over her front porch. I did stupid things as a teenager, so sue me. Raise your hands if you haven't done anything wrong or 'bad' in your life. My parents had gone for the weekend to visit some friends at a cottage and left me alone with the house, which meant I could sample some of their alcoholic beverages, which led me to getting pretty drunk. Heero was always there for me, and of course slept over and even indulged in a little of the drinking just enough to be buzzed. But after my little escape at poor Mrs. Johnson's house, Heero hauled my pathetic ass back to my place, cleaned me up and nursed me back to some semblance of what was me. Even going so far as to tuck me in and place a garbage can next to my bed in case I had to hurl and wasn't going to make it on time to the bathroom. He's so thoughtful. Heero slept on the floor this time. He usually sleeps in the same bed with me when we slept over. My mom thinks it weird how two sixteen-year-old boys safely fit into a double bed without one of us landing on the floor. It didn't bother me that I was sharing a bed with Heero, of course we didn't do anything bad you know. My parents COULD hear me if I attempted to do the horizontal mambo with my best friend. They're bedroom was next-door. But when Heero slept over, or I at his house (Heero was a lucky S.O.B. and owned a Queen size bed), he usually ended up cuddled next to me. I smile thinking about it, Heero a cuddler. It was cute when I'd sometimes wake up before Heero with his arm draped across my belly as he held onto me as he slept on, unaware of what he was doing. Even in his huge ass bed, he'd somehow make it to my side of the bed and cuddle me.   
  
When he ended up dating Relena, which was a good two years of his teenaged life, I was to say shocked when he and the blonde Barbie clone broke up. Well, Heero broke up with her, not the other way around. Relena was big time interested in my best friend and was a little more than crushed when he dumped her. He never did tell me exactly why he did but did say it was because of differences between the two. Relena, for a good solid week could not accept the fact that Heero had broken up with her and called him everyday and then one day, she stopped. I'm not sure why she did, but she did and I suppose maybe she finally accepted the fact Heero and she were not meant to be and moved on. Well at least I hoped so as I did a mental victory that Heero was now available and at his prime - a whopping nineteen years and one helluva hot looking one.   
  
Heero aged well as he grew from child to teen and from teen to a young adult. Sure Heero had been a skinny, wiry teen and thin almost to the point you'd question what he ate (Heero was extremely healthy with his diet, partially because of both his mom and dad, but did indulge in eating at a fast food restaurant with me every now and then. He did work at one for a summer job, but I don't think he liked working at one). Heero grew into a handsome nineteen year old, the eyes and his appearance that he always fretted about (Heero was ALWAYS self-conscious about how he dressed etc. While he never dressed to impress, he did always look good and neat), gave him an exotic and soulful look, the kind of person you knew was good and nice to a fault. Heero was quiet, not a block of ice.   
  
I remember when he did work at a fast food restaurant, a Wendy's if I recall correctly. He had applied at Wal-Mart and other places but was hired at Wendy's. Though it wasn't his ideal job, he did seem to have fun working there. I remember Trowa mentioning how the two of them worked together at the restaurant. Heero hated working on drive-thru, partially because he was inept at dealing with people. I remember going through the drive-thru at 1am (the drive-thru closed at 2am and I felt like paying my good friend a visit), and I nearly laughed when his voice spoke on the intercom where you place your order, as he stated in a forced happy "Hi, Welcome to Wendy's how may I help you?" I had to hold my tongue and I stated seriously, well as serious as I could be without laughing. I asked for a number one combo with a side order of Heero. I think I heard Heero choke out before a distinct "DUO!" was stated over the intercom, embarrassment clearly heard in poor Heero's voice from my torment. I couldn't help but giggle as I drove up to pay for my meal and Heero glaring at me as he handed back my change and told me to go home to bed and leave him alone. I knew he was joking with his usual subtle manner and that I knew he was in fact happy to see me, he looked tired and very young at that moment. Heero told me that he gave a whole new meaning to the 'pick up window' (1) because of all the women and occasional man who'd attempt to woo Heero. Mind you, Heero admitted that business did pick up since he stared there and the manager was quite pleased with it.  
  
That same summer I worked at a Tim Horton's. I swear there's a Tim Horton's here for every freaking bar. This little city has got to learn more about entertainment. I will admit I am slightly bitter about the lack thereof of things to do here. We had a Wal-Mart (yay...whooo), and two really crappy malls where most skaters hung out, why I will never know, I never really talked to them except one guy who called himself "Demonic." I don't know why, it doesn't even sound skater-ish, but who am I to question him? He was a nice guy; we had similar tastes in music and anime (which was something else Heero and I had in common!). Heero and I loved our anime, I even had him watch some of that yaoi stuff Hilde got me addicted to. Heero was more into the anime with mechas and I loved the fantasy ones, but we both LOVED the super hero ones. He and I both loved to watch Kenshin. Heero even drew some doujinshis that I'm convinced he should publish, but he says he just enjoys drawing them and not making any particular profit from it.  
  
But anyway, back to my dilemma, which hasn't been brought up until now. This year Heero and I started college together, we're even roommates. Isn't that cool? I mean how many people do you know get to go to the same post secondary school with their best friend and room with them besides the people in those lame ass movies. Anyway, Heero and I were nineteen and in college like most people our age. We lived together and did things together like friends do.... except best friends don't actually sleep...you know have sex, with one another. I don't exactly know what brought it on but one moment I was comforting Heero from a recent break up from some chick, I think her name was Cindy. Shows how much I care about the chicks he dates, and the next thing I know, I'm screwing the guy with him pinned beneath me staring up at me with lust filled eyes as he cried out my name. Not something I'd expect from my supposed straight friend who I guess is not so straight as I thought because he sure didn't seem to be struggling and fighting me then. It was unexpected. I still would like to know how I ended up from hugging and comforting him to taking his clothes of and sleeping with him.   
  
The next morning after our little escapade, I woke up to find my bed empty (he fell asleep after we had sex shortly thereafter), and my head full of questions and confusion. I searched high and low for the guy for a good day and couldn't find head nor tail of him. When Heero didn't want to be found, he didn't want to be found so I couldn't do more than sit around and wait until he returned to our little dorm room on the second floor. Return he did, even giving me a slight apologetic smile as he gently shut our door and sat on his bed, pulling off his jean jacket. I could do nothing more than stare at him as I tried to fit the pieces of this puzzle together of just how this happened. I mean it wasn't exactly that unexpected given our history, but I would have liked to have our first time (which I had always hoped and prayed for since I was sixteen and a half), a little bit more meaningful than me being a rebound. I was a little bit hurt, to say the least.  
  
I was lying on my bed full of questions to ask Heero, but the words never actually fleeing my tongue-tied mouth as Heero quietly walked across the carpet and sat at the corner of my bed almost timidly. A slight wince to his movement as he sat (which under good circumstances would have made me grin since I knew what was making him, rather who made him uncomfortable...ahem) but I was hurt and a little annoyed at Heero's brush off from the previous night's events. That is until he lifted my chin so that my eyes rested fully on him, his thumb gently rubbing my jaw as his expressive blue eyes looked at me with a mixture of sorrow, guilt, and indecision. His soft tenor finally spoke as he uttered one word "sorry."   
  
Sorry for what, I questioned myself mentally. Sorry that you got laid by your best friend and that it was all a huge mistake? Sorry this shouldn't have happened and we were both under a lot of stress from our midterms? Sorry I don't think we can be friends any longer, best friends aren't supposed to do this? Sorry that -  
  
His soft voice cut my mind rant as he continued his apology. "I am sorry that I hurt your feelings Duo, but I do not regret what we did last night. I would in fact like to continue more of what we did last night and when we were teenagers, but not just sex or fooling around, an actual relationship that's more than friends. I've always liked you, ever since we were little. I even told my mom how I wanted to marry you and she'd always tell me that little boys don't get married until they're big boys. But, anyway," Heero said nervously as I tried to soak in Heero's words as he continued. "Doyle Aiden Maxwell, formally known as Duo, would you go out with me?"  
  
I nearly laughed when I stared into his serious face full of earnestness. The one thing I had always desired to be true was actually coming true and I found it almost unbelievable and a little hokey like those stories Mrs. Yuy wrote (maybe Heero's mom's romance writing was rubbing off on Heero's personality? Mrs. Yuy did occasionally write same sex pairings in her novels so I don't think it mattered...) but anyway, as Heero poured out his little confession and request to date, I practically threw my arms around him, surprising him. "Yes Heero, I will date you and be your boyfriend," I told him as he hugged me back in return with mild hesitation before the words sunk in and he kissed my cheek.  
  
It was only until five years that we had officially been 'together' as a couple that I dared to ask what brought on this confession and why Heero never asked me before. Heero admitted that he was unsure if his feelings were genuine or not and didn't want it to be just some fling we had. (Heero admitted that Quatre had told him when we were seventeen that I was gay but never let on that he knew, hence why he asked me to date him without bothering to ask if I was gay or not). He didn't want to be something short term because he said that he valued our friendship more than anything in the world. That touched me to say the least. He must have put a lot of thought into this confession. I asked him if he was always gay, he only grinned at me with a sheepish expression, the one where it would bring out the dimples in his cheeks which I often teased him about; but they were SO cute! Heero told me he was bi, hence his girlfriends in the past, but he admitted that he always cared for me more and actually enjoyed our little 'experimentation's' more than he ever let on. Heero the little sneak! I've never known him to be so dirty in keeping secrets but I was glad he was with me. Heero also told me why he and Relena broke up those so many years ago - she caught him jacking off with him moaning my name and not hers and she got very bitter about it. Heero admitted he always knew they were not meant to be because he couldn't stand the colour pink (of course not! Heero's favorite colour was green!) and that he only dated her because she had some cool classical music soundtracks that he'd been dying to hear. Heero was a musician you know, he played guitar sometimes when he was stressed out and nothing was helping him. But in the end, I was glad he finally told me - I loved Heero and he loved me.  
  
I finally got what I've always wanted - my next-door neighbour.  
  
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1 - I actually work at Wendy's and a friend of mine who works there actually does give a new name to the pick-up window for the many creepy guys who have attempted to pick her up. She just glares at them! It's kind of funny in a strange sort of way.  
  
Any questions or comments? E-mail me at: Hakumei@otakumail.com Any flames will be laughed at and promptly trashed where it rightfully belongs. Oh REVIEW PLEASE! I love them!  
  
I's be a proud member of the SDDI. 


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